Unaware Fear Extinction fMRI (HKU)

This record holds the data behind a doctoral thesis at the University of Hong Kong on whether fear-related memories can be weakened without the person consciously seeing the feared stimulus. The studies used a two-day threat conditioning design: participants first learned that certain images predicted an aversive outcome, then went through extinction and, later, re-extinction. During extinction, continuous flash suppression was used to keep the conditioned images out of visual awareness for some participants. The record is organised by thesis chapter and mixes behavioral, physiological and brain imaging data.

Composition

The record describes three chapter datasets. Chapter 2 is behavioral only: pupil dilation across acquisition, extinction and re-extinction, subjective ratings, manipulation checks and mood questionnaires from 78 participants. Chapter 3 adds preprocessed fMRI recorded during extinction and re-extinction, together with ratings, pupil dilation during acquisition, manipulation checks and mood questionnaires, from 60 participants. Chapter 4 contains ratings, functional connectivity from a resting-state scan before extinction, and event-related BOLD signals during extinction and re-extinction, also from 60 participants. The record does not say whether the Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 samples overlap.

Acquisition

The record does not give the scanner, field strength or sequence parameters. The imaging part consists of task fMRI during extinction and re-extinction and a resting-state scan before extinction, shared as preprocessed images or derived signals rather than raw scans.

Known limitations

All files are under embargo until 31 August 2028, and no request route is offered in the meantime, so the entry is listed as not shared. The CC BY-NC 4.0 license on the record applies once the embargo ends. No journal paper describing the imaging cohort was available when this entry was written, so demographics, recruitment site and acquisition details are not given. Structural images are not mentioned in the record.